Love Affairs Of The Heart
by XxVictoria23Xx
Summary: As the Blight comes closer each day, Lynara and her team must venture into lands unknown and find allies. But strange things can happen to your heart when death is in the form of a dragon. Will Lynara follow her heart?
1. Chapter 1

**So as some people may know I am normally a Twilight writer but recently I have become more and more obsessed with Dragon Age Origin, so obsessed that I have played the game three more times and completed it twice. So I thought I would do a FanFiction on it, as that's normally what I do when I am obsessed with something. So here you go.**

_It had been several weeks into The Blight. Lynara had gained as many team members as she could and it was a sight to see, from elf to Qunari. This was the largest crowd of people Lynara had ever worked with as she was normally surrounded by her small tribe of Dalish Elves. Lynara had never spoken in great detail about her life to her team mates and now there was a window of opportunity._

Alistair held up a large wooden spoon and a bowl. "Who wants some lamb and pea stew?" He asked to the group. Silence crept over the camp when all of a sudden Lynara's faithful dog, Stranza, walked up to the pot of stew and "accidentally" managed to tip the stew onto the floor.

"Oh Stranza look what you did! Bad dog!" Alistair was waving the wooden spoon in the dogs face, but he didn't see it as a threat, Stranza only saw a stick which was meant to be thrown but was not.

"Alistair, stop picking on my dog." Lynara called. She started to laugh as the dog snatched the spoon out of Alistair's hand. Stranza ran off with the spoon with Alistair not far behind chasing the dog. This sight made Lynara burst out into hysterics.

"Give that spoon back! Lynara control your dog!"

The others had joined Lynara in her laugh and were not paying much attention to what Alistair was saying. Lynara was suddenly tackled by Stranza who dropped the spoon next to her and was now licking her face.

"Stranza- Stranza stop- stop- STOP!" She pushed the dog back a bit so she could breathe again. The dog sat down in front of her, his pink tongue hanging out of his mouth and his little stubby tail wagging like crazy.

"Hey boy, because you spilt dinner, why don't you go find a rabbit or hare, you're normally good at that with Morrigan." The dog barked happily at Lynara and ran off into the trees to find an alternative for dinner.

Alistair was now out of breath and sat on the log next to Wynne, he felt safer next to her then any of the others.

"Thanks for the help guys. I hope this won't happen with the darkspawn." Alistair glared at Morrigan who was chuckling under her breath.

"Don't worry Lethallin that won't happen." Lynara sent a soft smile towards Alistair.

"Pardon me Lynara, but was that Dalish you just spoke?" Zevran looked at Lynara with curiosity in his eyes.

"Sorry I forgot none of you speak my language. Yes it was, it means friend of mine. I can teach you some words if you like Zevran, so you can feel more a part of your race." Lynara's heart always sank when she remembered how Zevran was not in tune with his Dalish as his mother had died and so had his father.

"I would like that very much." Zevran said with a chocked up voice.

"Lynara, I have just realized, you know so much about all of us, but we only know that you are Dalish and a Grey Warden. Would you be willing to tell us more about yourself?" Leliana asked.

"You're right. You don't know much about me. Well what would you like to know?" Lynara asked not sure where to start.

"Start with anything you want dear." Wynne said with her soft motherly smile.

"Alright. Well I was born into the Dalish camp and I had no brothers or sisters. My parents were killed when I was very young. They were murdered by human bandits. My family and I were out together; they were teaching me how to be one with the forest and animals. Bandits then came out of nowhere. My parents saw them before they saw us, we didn't have enough time to run back to camp so my parents told me to climb the tree and hide. Then the bandits saw them. They ran towards my parents with their swords in hand. My mother pulled her bow from her back and my father pulled his dagger from his boot. I watched as my parents got slaughtered by humans. They left soon after, robbing them of any money they had brought with them. They left my parent's bodies in the middle of the road; left them to rot. After I was sure they had left I climbed out of the tree with tears streaming down my face and knelt next to them until others came to look for my parents and myself. I was five years old."

Silence had swept over the camp. Leliana and Alistair were now sat next to each other. Leliana was crying her eyes out and Alistair almost was but he held them back. Lynara looked around at her team and all looked sad, even Sten who never revealed any emotion. Zevran was especially quiet; he seemed to understand Lynara's pain from all those years.

"Sorry I didn't mean to upset you all." Lynara expressed.

"It's alright dear. No harm done. May I ask though, how did you become a Grey Warden?" Wynne was not pushing Lynara to hard but was curious as to how it happened.

"I was in the woods with a childhood friend of mine. His name was Tamlen and he was my best friend. We came across humans who told of a cave so we went to look. I didn't want to go in but Tamlen did. We found this room with a mirror in it, I didn't like the look or feel I was getting so I begged Tamlen to leave. But he was mesmerized by the mirror. He touched it and a bright light shone out. The next thing I knew I was outside the cave and saw Duncan for the first time, but only for a second. I woke up later that week and Duncan told me I was tainted and the only way to cure me was to become a Warden. So that's how I became a Grey Warden."

"Wow, your story is much more interesting than mine." Alistair said in amazement.

"What happened to Tamlen?"Leliana asked, her crying calmed for a time.

"I didn't see him again. I wanted to look for him but Duncan said he was gone, taken by the taint. I lost my best friend that day and I couldn't do anything about it." Lynara suddenly felt tears role down her cheek. She composed herself before anyone could say anything even though they all saw.

"Right, who's on watch tonight?" She asked quickly before heading to her tent.

Once she was safe in her tent where no one could see her, she let her tears free. She reached into her suit of armor and pulled out a chain that had a light colored wooden oval on it, glazed with sheen so the wood would not rot. On the front were carvings of swirls that looked like patterns an elf would wear. On the back however were words.

She read silently to herself under her breath.

"Tamlen and Lynara. Best friends 'til the end of time."


	2. Chapter 2

**So I changed my user name just for people who were confused. I just thought it needed changing since I now have other obsessions. So anyway here is another chapter.**

Lynara was running through the forest with Tamlen by her side. They were running after one of the Halla that had escaped from the pen. They chased the Halla to the near end of the forest when all of a sudden the Halla was gone. The forest was no longer the lush green colour that it was earlier but was now a gray colour with fog blowing in from somewhere. Lynara turned around to tell Tamlen to head back to the tribe but Tamlen was nowhere to be seen.

Through the corner of Lynara's eye, she saw an orange flicker. She was drawn into this strange light, the only source of colour in the now dead forest. Lynara decided to cloak herself in the shadows so that she could look closer and not be detected. Before she could get to close to the light she heard a chilling sound. She recognised the sound from her adventure with Alistair to light the beckon. It was the sound of bones breaking. Then the smell hit her before she saw it, death. The flickering light was a fire in the middle of the forest that spread amongst the trees. There were dead bodies scattered around the forest and darkspawn everywhere, including Ogre's who were breaking the bones of the corpses to get a meal.

Then she heard a screeching sound that hurt her ears. Lynara tried to pin point the location of the sound but could not find anything. Then the sky became darker and a cold swept the forest. She was no longer hidden by shadows and the darkspawn could see her. Even the large dragon in front of her could see her now. The dragon stared at Lynara for a second and then unleashed its fire upon her.

"Lynara! Lynara wake up!" She heard in the distance a familiar voice that brought her out of this nightmare.

"Lynara!" Her eyes rushed open as she sat up as quick as possible. As she did this she managed to hit her head on Alistair's head who was leaning over Lynara.

"Alistair, what are you doing in my tent?" Lynara asked pulling her cover closer to her skin as Alistair had only ever seen Lynara in her armor.

"I was on watch and I heard you screaming. I knew what was happening and I came to wake you up." He was rubbing his head where Lynara had let a red mark and gave her a concerned look.

"How did you know what was happening?"

"It's just one of the many glorious side effects of being a Grey Warden. Not only do we get to kill darkspawn but we also have to suffer with nightmares. Sucks doesn't it?"

"It felt so real. I-I was back home and Tamlen was there. Was that dragon a darkspawn?" Her pulsh was rushing as the dream had not worn off yet.

"Sort of. That dragon is the Archdemon. He's the leader of the darkspawn and the one we have to stop to end the Blight."

Lynara gave a deep sigh. "Great just what we need adding to the list."

Alistair chuckled and smiled at her. There was a short silence between them for a moment but it wasn't uncomfortable, but calming. Alistair's eye caught the necklace around Lynara's neck next to her Warden necklace.

"I haven't seen that before. It's beautiful."

"Thank you. It's a friendship token that Tamlen and I had. It's the only thing that I have left of him. He had the other one of these. When we were kids we found an old tree in the forest and took it back to camp to give to our craftsman. He made one for each of us with a message on the back." As she spoke she raised her hand up to the necklace and held it in her hand.

"You really miss him, don't you?" Alistair now moved closer to Lynara to comfort her.

"He was practically family to me. I feel so responsible for his death." Lynara was holding back tears but one got away from her and fell onto her sheet. Alistair was no sat next to her and held her in an embrace to comfort her. It was only at that moment that Lynara realised that Alistair wasn't wearing his armor. Instead he was wearing a loose shirt and trousers.

She started to hug Alistair back as she felt as if she needed a friend at that moment. They both sat there for a while, as Lynara cried and Alistair tried to calm her down and let her mourn for her lost friend.

"You know, you can always talk to me if you need to. When I spoke to you about Duncan it really helped me."

"Thanks Alistair I know I can but there has been enough sadness for me to talk about for one day. I wouldn't want to upset the whole camp."

"Upset us? I'm shocked, we are all strong people in this camp nothing can upset us."

"I saw you holding back tears today when I was telling you about my family. And you were upset about Duncan."

"I was not holding back tears, I had something in my eye. And yes I was upset about Duncan but so were you. Your life really hasn't had a lot of joy in it has it?"

Lynara looked up at Alistair. For the first time she had noticed that he had beautiful eyes, the type that someone could look into for hours. She also realised that they were both still holding each other. She laid her head on Alistair's shoulder before letting go of him.

"I wouldn't say that. I have had some joy." She smiled up at him and Alistair did the same.

Just as Lynara had looked into Alistair's eyes and noticed the depth of them, so did Alistair for Lynara. He had never really looked at her face properly. She had deep green eyes like the leaves on trees. His eyes traced the dark Dalish tattoo of her face. She had delicate swirls on both cheeks that moved in towards her lips. On her forehead were more markings of different shapes but the same colour as the other.

Alistair could feel his face becoming warm which meant that a blush was coming. Before his face could become the colour of a tomato Alistair left Lynara alone in her tent.

"I will see you in the morning. Remember my tent is next to yours if you need anything." He said outside the tent.

Lynara lay back on her bedroll and started to think to herself.

_Come on Lynara what are you doing? You can't fall for Alistair he's a Shem. It goes against everything you have been told. And yet I can't help but be pulled in._

Lynara decided to stop thinking about it and just go to sleep.

Alistair was trying to do the same but all Alistair could see behind his eyes were those eyes and the swirls of tattoos.

_Oh Maker have mercy on me._

And with that Alistair buried his head under his pillow.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 for all those readers who want to continue to read.**

Alistair was the first person moving in the camp the next morning, everyone else was still in their tents. He decided to start packing up his tent and some of the camp objects so that they could be on the move soon.

Once Alistair had done this he realised that he needed to bathe as he didn't smell as amazing as he thought he did. Alistair grabbed a large piece of cloth to dry himself off with and headed down to the river for a quick wash.

When Alistair got to the river however he stayed hidden in the trees for a while. On a log were pieces of clothing and a long piece of string. Propped up against the log was a longbow, so elegant that he wished he knew how to fire a bow. Alistair wasn't sure who they belonged to so decided to stay hidden just in case they were not friendly.

Alistair kept staring at the water to see if there was someone there, but he could see no one. He was just about to move out into the clearing when a head popped out from underneath the water. Long dark brown hair was shaking from side to side as the person arose from the water. Alistair was mesmerised by this figure, but still didn't know who it was. As the figure came closer to the log where her belongings were, Alistair realised who it was and felt heat spread through his face. The woman he was so mesmerised by was Lynara.

Alistair began to make back quietly, she hadn't noticed him and thought it would be better if it stayed that way but nature didn't agree with him. As Alistair was walking back he stepped on a twig on the floor. Lynara was already out of the water when she heard this and ran to get her bow. She had taken into account that she was in a camp with men and Zevran in particular, so instead of washing naked, she wore a long man shirt she found in Denerim that was supposed to be worn under armor.

Lynara was soaking wet but didn't care. She pulled on the bow with an arrow ready to hit her target.

"Alright come out so I can see you, unless you want to be injured." She kept her eyes on the trees the whole time. Out of the trees came Alistair, his head hung low with a hand covering his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you were here. I thought you were still in your tent." Alistair raised his head and talked in the direction he thought Lynara was standing in. He was wrong though, he was in fact talking to a tree next to where Lynara was standing.

Lynara found this hilarious and couldn't help but laugh. Alistair looked through his fingers to see what she was laughing at to find that there was an Elm tree staring at him.

"It's alright Alistair, I knew something like this would happen so I bought this." She said as she pointed to her shirt.

Alistair looked at the dark coloured shirt for a second trying not to think how it clung to her skin. He could see all her curves clearly by how closely the shirt was to her. He decided not to look at the shirt anymore but her face. Alistair had never noticed until that moment how long Lynara's hair was.

She had let it down to wash it obviously, and her hair stretched all the way to her ribs. As Alistair was looking at her she walked over to the log where her belongings were and tied her hair up.

Lynara looked over at Alistair who was still staring at her. She saw the slight blush in his face and felt a little bit spied on. She crossed her arms over her breasts just as a reflex. She had developed this ever since Zevran joined the team.

Alistair shook his head slightly and started to speak is circles.

"So, um I'm going to wash because you don't want to smell- not that you smell- but washing stops you from smelling...Darkspawn smell bad..." Alistair let out an awkward laugh and Lynara couldn't help but giggle at him and slightly blush too.

"Well, I'll just leave you to your business then. Enjoy the water." Lynara was smiling to herself as she walked away.

_He's so cute when things get awkward. No stop thinking like that! He's a shem you're an elf! Just go pack your tent_

Alistair was staring after her as she walked away and gave out a small sigh.

"Good job Alistair, just made a fool of yourself there." He muttered to himself. Alistair started stripping down so that he could get into the water when he heard Morrigan snickering in the bushes.

"Well Alistair, I was considering embarrassing you then but guess what. You did that all by yourself. Congratulations, you just saved me from working this morning."

_Evil witch woman! I am going to get her one day._


	4. Chapter 4

The group had been travelling for a while when they came across Redcliffe again. They had all been here once before to help the Arl and his son Connor, but the Arl had called for Alistair to come back for a quick visit to talk strategy.

Alistair had insisted that Lynara should talk tactics with him, but Lynara didn't know much about how humans fought so felt that it be better he dealt with the human tactics and she the elven tactics. People may think they fight the same way but her clan had never fought like humans in all the years she had known.

As Alistair spoke to the Arl she was welcome to look around the castle and take in the city. Lynara wanted to stay in the castle to look around whereas some people such as Leliana and Zevran wanted to go shopping in Redcliffe. Wynne decided to join them to make sure they didn't get into trouble, whereas Morrigan and Sten stayed out of the way down at the docks.

Lynara was walking down the corridor with Stranza when he started to sniff the air.

"What is it boy? You see anything interesting?" She said to the dog. He barked at her and started running off. Lynara knew that he wanted her to follow his so she did. He led her to a room with the door wide open. In the room was a large desk and bookshelves. It looked like the Arl's office. She knew that she wasn't allowed in there so she turned around, but Stranza wouldn't move.

"Stranza come on you're not allowed in there, get out." But he wouldn't move.

"You are an evil dog, you know that. Alright I will come in there and get you." The dog barked as she said this. It was obviously his plan the whole time.

As soon as Lynara had stepped into the room Stranza moved over to a draw in the Arl's desk and pointed at it with his nose like a hunting dog.

"I'm not supposed to look through peoples draws Stranza, it's not nice." But Stranza let out a whine making Lynara want to know what was in there that could be so important.

"Alright I will look but you can't tell anyone." She whispered to the dog.

She opened the draw slowly as it was stiff and was making a small squeaking noise. When the draw was fully open she was a silver amulet laid out on top of a leather book. She recognised it from a description that Alistair had given of his mothers that he had smashed years ago.

"Good boy! Aren't you a clever dog?" She cooed over him like a child.

The dog barked happily at her and they both walked out of the office.

Hours later Alistair had finished his meeting with the Arl and the group decided to set up camp again as it was getting dark by the time they were on the road.

Lynara was exhausted after the day she had. Before they were able to set up camp a group of darkspawn had spotted them and they had to battle their way through them. There were more than Lynara thought there were and used up a lot of energy.

Her hair had fallen out of her ponytail by the end of the day and decided to take it down. As she did this, the smell of darkspawn blood filled her nose. Her hair stank so for the second time today she would have to wash her hair. She couldn't be bothered to wash herself so would only wash her hair.

As she stepped out of her tent she bumped into Alistair. She heard him let out a pained "Oof" sound before she began apologising.

"Shit Alistair I'm sorry I didn't see you when I came out."

"It's alright but now we're even from this morning hopefully."

Lynara laughed and nodded at him.

"Hey Alistair I was wondering if you could come with me to the stream here, my hair is covered in darkspawn blood."

"Um...yeah but why do you need me to come with you. Oh I know, do you want me to spy on you again?" He was using his teasing voice that he did when he was trying to be funny.

"No I have something for you, but if you come with me I can kill two ogre's with one stone."

"Alright let's go."

They took a lit piece of wood so that they could see where they were going as it had now become very dark in the woods.

Lynara flipped her hair over and into the water and started washing the blood out of her tangled hair.

Alistair was looking at her neck as she did this. He saw the string that connected her necklaces together at the base of her neck but he also saw a small tattoo that seemed to be coming out of the neck of her armor.

"Hey Lynara, how many tattoos do you have?" He asked out of curiosity.

"Oh I guess you can see the one on my back. Well in total I have three tattoos. The one on my face, the one on my back that you can see the end of and I have one at the base of by back too that isn't part of that one."

"Why do you have so many tattoos? Is it an elf thing?" She flipped her soaking hair back and tied it up again.

"Not all the time, not all elves have tattoos. Mine are from being a rogue, the one on my face shows what I am, a Dalish Rogue, the one on my back that climbs up my spine shows my preferred weapon but you only really need to see the tip of the tattoo for that." She then pointed out the small arrow tip on the part of the tattoo Alistair could see.

"And the final tattoo is something I can't tell you about." She started blushing.

"Why not? Did you have it done on a wild night out in Orzamar?" They both laughed at this joke. Lynara was still smiling when she explained why.

"That Tattoo is kind of personal...I can tell you another time but not right now. Right now I have something to give to you." Lynara fished into her pack and pulled out the amulet she found.

"This...this is my mother's amulet. You remembered me telling you...where did you find it?" He seemed to be speechless.

"I found it in the Arl's study. He cared more than you though he did."

"Thank you Lynara, you have no idea how much this means to me."

"It's alright. I thought it needed to be returned to the rightful owner. Now come on, we have a big day ahead of us."

Lynara started to walk off when she felt Alistair's hand around her wrist. She looked back at him and he pulled her into his arms and hugged her. They both stood there under the moonlight for a while, hugging. Neither of them had ever felt happier.


	5. Chapter 5

**So my story seems to be going alright, although there are no reviews I am getting positivity from it. So anyway here is some more.**

A week had passed since Lynara gave Alistair his mothers amulet, and the rest of the team could tell something was now happening between them. Alistair glance in Lynara's direction occasionally and Lynara did the same thing. Sometimes, their eyes would meet and they would both blush and look the other way.

As Lynara and her team were walking down a road to Denerim on day, Alistair noticed Wynne smiling in the corner of his eye.

"Why are you smiling like that? You Look suspiciously like the cat who swallowed the pigeon."

Wynne giggled slightly. "Canary." She said.

"What?"

"I look like the cat that swallowed the canary."

Alistair scratched his head and digressed. "I once had a very large cat, but that's not my point. My point is why are you smirking?"

Alistair couldn't understand why Wynne was chuckling.

"You were watching her, and with great interest, I might add. In fact, I believe you were...enraptured."

Lynara could hear every word they were saying and felt a slight blush cross her face.

"She's our leader. I look to her for guidance."

"Oh I see. So what guidance did you find in those swaying hips hmm?" Wynne asked raising one eyebrow. Alistair's face began to heat up with embarrassment of being caught.

"No, no, no. I wasn't looking at...you know her...hind-quarters." Wynne was not fooled.

"I gazed-glanced, in that direction, maybe, but I wasn't staring-or really seeing anything even."

Wynne was not impressed or even believed Alistair's excuse, but she found it cute and merely said "of course" and walked off.

As Wynne walked away Zevran walked closer to Alistair.

"You know Alistair, if you need help with anything, anything at all I am here for you. Nice choice in hips by the way."

"Um...thank you...but Zevran if you look at her hips again I will hurt you."

"Very well Alistair." Zevran walked off while snickering under his breath. Zevran walked passed Lynara and elbowed her. As she looked over at Zevran he winked and mouthed to her "Well done". She smiled at Zevran as he walked off to chat up an elf, who was walking passed them on the road.

Hours passed and the team were closer to the Dalish Camp about a day's travel away now, but night drew closer and Lynara thought it would be a good idea to set up camp. Morrigan set up her separate camp as usual and the others all put up their tents next to one another. It was Wynne's turn to make dinner that night and she made a special stew that she used to make when she was younger in the Tower. Everyone agreed that it was better than Alistair's stew but they wouldn't tell him that.

Sten was on watch tonight and as the others went to their tents Alistair pulled Lynara to one side.

"Lynara can I talk to you?" Alistair looked as if he had something important on his mind.

"Of course you can Alistair." Lynara smiled up at Alistair, staring longingly into his eyes.

"Oh...ok, well come take a walk with me."

Lynara and Alistair walked into the trees as they had done most nights. Alistair was trying to think what to say to Lynara, and Lynara was trying to think what to say to Alistair. But both knew that tonight would be the night they would tell the other how they felt.

There was a small clearing not too far from a path that led to Denerim and this is where they stopped.

"Lynara, there's something I've been meaning to tell you but I haven't been sure how to say it." Alistair didn't look into her eyes in case he lost his train of thought.

"I know we haven't known each other very long, but I feel different when I'm around you. I feel like a better person in a way."

"I know what you mean Alistair, I feel the same way."

"You do? Phew what a relief. SO what now?" Alistair asked.

"I don't know, I was hoping you would have the answers there."

"Hmm...well I don't have the answers but I do have this." He pulled out a red rose from his backpack. "I found it in Lothering and I thought of you. It's stupid I know but-"

"Alistair I love it, it's beautiful. Thank you." She brought the rose up to her nose to smell it and as she did she blushed. Alistair felt so calm around her, and he was happy that he found someone who blushed as much as him. Alistair looked down at Lynara and he thought he saw a tear escape her eye. He moved closer to her and knelt down slightly. Lynara suddenly looked up at him, their faces almost touching. Both of them blushed as they realised how close their faces were to each other.

Alistair moved in closer to Lynara, both feeling a pull almost like gravity. Before they knew it their lips were touching. Lynara felt at home as Alistair wrapped his arms around Lynara's body, and Alistair felt the same way as Lynara's arms wrapped around his neck. Lynara was still holding onto the rose as her arms wrapped around his muscular neck.

Both of them were new to this, but that didn't stop them from kissing passionately. Lynara didn't expect there to be such warmth in Alistair's lips and his embrace. She felt so comfortable and she didn't want this moment to end. Alistair suddenly pulled away, not to suddenly but it still pained Lynara slightly as the kiss had to end.

Alistair didn't let her go thought from his embrace. He kissed her forehead before saying, "We better get back to camp before the others start to panic that we've been eaten by darkspawn."

"You're right, let's go." Alistair led the way back with his hand entwined with Lynara's. They had only gone a few steps back to camp when an arrow shot past Lynara's head. As a split reaction Lynara reached behind her back to grab her bow and scoped the woods to see where the arrow came from. Then she saw them, five darkspawn heading for her and Alistair.

Alistair charged off to kill them head on and Lynara stayed back and fired her arrows. She aimed at one, and with a loud thud the arrow hit the darkspawn in the chest, she aimed for the next one but before she could release the tension in the bow, she was hit with an arrow in her shoulder.

"Argh!" She cried out in pain. Alistair looked over at her in between his hitting the darkspawn, but Lynara ensured that she was fine. Alistair had killed two of the darkspawn and Lynara had killed one more. There was one darkspawn left and as Lynara pulled on her bow her vision began to blur. She shook it off and fired her arrow at him. Before her arrow could hit him, the darkspawn's arrow had hit her just an inch away from her rib cage.

"Lynara are you alright?" Alistair was running towards her, worry in his face.

"I'm fine, you don't need to worry." She could hear her words coming out of her mouth and she heard that they were slow and slurred.

Alistair hadn't even reached her when she suddenly collapsed. Her vision was growing darker and darker. The last thing she saw was Alistair leaning over her, worry covering every inch of his face. She could hear a small muffled voice calling her name. Before she knew it she could hear and see nothing, only darkness.

**Alright tell me what you think of this chapter. Thanks for reading guys.**


	6. Chapter 6

Alistair did the first thing that popped into his mind. He picked Lynara up into his arms and carried her back to camp. Her body was limp in his strong arms and her breathing was shallow. Alistair wasn't sure what would happen if he didn't get her back to camp in time and he didn't want to think about it.

Alistair had run all the way back to camp and was not out of breath.

"Wynne! Morrigan! I need your help!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

Wynne came running out of her tent and Morrigan did not appear. Wynne had been asleep and was half awake when she saw the limp body in Alistair's arms.

"By the Maker, what happened?" Wynne was fully awake now and was leading Alistair over to a table to place Lynara's body on.

"We were ambushed by darkspawn. I was fighting them head on and I turned around after I heard Lynara scream. She was fine one minute and the next she collapsed on the floor." Alistair was panicking and Wynne could sense this.

"Alistair you need to calm down, you are of no help to anyone like this. Now I need you to get Morrigan personally, tell her it's not for you but for Lynara."

Alistair understood and ran off to get Morrigan. Wynne was left to care for Lynara as best she could for a while. She decided to tent to getting the arrows out of Lynara's shoulder and side, but no matter how hard she pulled the arrow wouldn't come out. One thing that confused Wynne was how the arrows got through Lynara's armor? Lynara's armor was a special make that she had made for her before she left to become a Grey Warden. It had three layers of leather one under the other to make it almost impossible to get through.

A few moments later Morrigan was rushing towards Wynne with Alistair on her tail.

"What did you do to her Alistair?" Morrigan accused.

"I didn't do anything it was the darkspawn!"

"Well you shouldn't have let this happen!"

"But I-"

"BOTH OF YOU STOP IT!" Wynne yelled. "If you haven't noticed, Lynara is not in the best state and you two should not be arguing!" Both hung their heads in shame.

"Now I need your help, I can't get these arrows out of her." Wynne tried to pull on the arrow again but it still wouldn't move.

"We will have to take the armor off to see the wound. From there we can see if we have to push it out or can pull it out."

Wynne and Morrigan started to take her armor off when Alistair decided to shut his eyes. Once her armor was rolled down enough for the first arrow Morrigan tried to pull the arrow out as it didn't look to deep. The arrow began to come out with ease for Morrigan.

"By the maker, how did you do that?" Wynne asked, astonished.

"It doesn't seem to be too deep in the wound." Once Morrigan had pulled out the whole arrow they noticed that the tip was missing.

"Um...isn't there normally a sharp point at the end of that?" Alistair asked trying to lighten the mood.

Wynne tried to see if the arrow tip was still in the wound but there was nothing there. After the success of removing one arrow they did the same with the other. Morrigan kept looking at the arrow's remains and couldn't shake off the feeling of something evil.

"Alistair, can you please call Leliana and Zevran please." Morrigan asked Alistair.

"Of course." Alistair was slightly confused at the use of Morrigan's polite words but he shuck them off. A few moments had passed and both were finally with them.

"What happened?" Both asked as they saw Lynara. Alistair explained the situation to them and both were shocked.

"Do either of you recognise these arrows?" Morrigan asked them showing the arrows. Leliana seemed at a loss but she saw the flicker of recognition in Zevran's eyes.

"Where did you get these?" Zevran asked reaching for the arrow. There was a hint of worry in his voice which made everyone feel uncomfortable.

"Where do you thing? Have you seen them before or not?" Morrigan was growing impatient.

"If they are what I believe they are then yes. Twice in Antiva, but to be sure I would need to see the tip."

"There is no tip." Wynne explained.

"There might be." Alistair said quietly. "One of the arrows missed Lynara and went flying past her. I could try to find it." Alistair explained. They nodded at him and off he ran to find the arrow.

Wynne had cast a healing spell on Lynara to make sure she didn't decrease in health. Her breathing had become more shallow and she had turned very pale. Beads of sweat were now forming on her forehead and around her eyes. Before they knew it Alistair was back with the arrow in his hand.

Zevran's eyes filled with worry. Under his breath he cursed in his native tongue.

"What is it Zevran?" Morrigan asked.

"These are a special arrow used mainly in Antiva, or they were. I have only seen them used twice in my time as a crow. They are an ingenious creation made to be impossible to take out."

"But we did." Wynne explained.

"No you only took half out. Once the arrow goes in it is hard to take out. The arrow tip dissolves in the bloodstream and releases in most cases a poison. That is why the tips are missing, they are in her bloodstream."

A small gasp spread across the group.

"Is there a cure?" Alistair asked.

"I do not know. There are many different types of these arrows, some are just poisons, others are knock out arrows. Our best case however is probably to take her back to the Dalish. They know her body better than anybody."

"Is it safe to move her? I mean look at her, she's not exactly the picture of health." Morrigan stated. They looked at Lynara. She looked close to death. Her eyes looked sunken into her skull and she looked even more pale then she did moments ago.

"What choice do we have? At any rate, keeping her here will not help her even with all the healing spells."

"Zevran's right we need to move." Alistair ordered to the rest of the camp. Before they knew it the camp was once again dismantled and they were on the move. Alistair offered to carry Lynara to the Dalish camp and so he did. Her head rested on his chest and Alistair kept her close to his body.

"Hold on Lynara, please. I can't lose you now." He whispered into her ear. Lynara twitched slightly and her hand moved onto Alistair chest, where his heart was. Alistair took this as a sign that she wasn't near death, not yet. They were so close to the camp but every step felt like an eternity to Alistair.

**Ok so I know it probably reads as being rushed but it's because I am very tired and I'm not all with it. Anyway tell me what you think.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Alright this chapter should be better, but I'm still a bit tired so it might not be, so whatever happens I'm sorry. Anyway here you go.**

The group had finally arrived at the Dalish camp and Alistair was relieved. All the way there Alistair had kept looking down at Lynara praying to the Maker that Lynara would be alright. He couldn't do this by himself and he couldn't lose her, not after he finally met someone who he loved.

"Halt. You may not pass Shem." At the entrance to the Camp was a red headed Elf.

"Please." Begged Alistair. "We seek aid from someone from your camp. One of your fellow Dalish has fallen. Her name is-"

"Lynara!" The red headed Elf exclaimed. "What did you do to her?" She accused.

"We have done nothing, darkspawn have done this to her. Please we need aid now, she has been infected with some sort of arrow and we need your experience with her body."

"Very well, we shall take you to the Keeper." She led the way quickly to the Keeper's tent and introduced them.

"Thank you Samar you may leave." The Keeper told the red headed Elf. The Keeper was a very old woman with a tattoo that resembled a tree across her face.

"Keeper, please help our fellow Grey Warden who also happens to be part of your tribe." Alistair asked laying Lynara down on a table in front of the Keeper.

"I shall help her, we cannot lose her as well as Tamlen. May I ask though, why does a Shem want to help one of the Dalish? What is she to you?" The Keeper asked.

"Lynara is one of the only Grey Warden's left in Denerim along with myself; we are fighting a Blight at the moment and we need her. But more than that she is our friend and leader."

"You let one of our kind lead? Maybe there is hope after all between your kind and ours. I can sense however there is more to your story Grey Warden, but I shall not press it. I must tend to Lynara." The Keeper shooed them out of her tent while she worked on fixing Lynara.

The others waited outside in different spots. Wynne was talking to Elves who may have seen an apprentice of hers who ran away from the Tower. Zevran was talking to a group of female Elves who he must have been trying to chat up. Morrigan was looking at a stall in the camp that sold weapons and staffs possibly thinking of changing hers. Sten was his usual self and stood well out of the way and Leliana sat next to Alistair outside the Keeper's tent.

"I know that look. You love her don't you?" Leliana said.

"What look? I don't have a look...is it that obvious?" Alistair asked.

"A little but I think it's cute. She will be alright Alistair don't worry." Leliana put her hand on Alistair's back to try and comfort him.

"Excuse me." A male Elf had approached Alistair. "Are you the Grey Warden who is friends with Lynara?" He asked.

"Yes I am. Is there something I can do for you?"

"Actually I was hoping there was something I could do for you. You see, I was very good friends with Lynara's parents. I never had the chance to give her this." The Elf had pulled out from behind his back a large bow that was a dark wood.

"This was her mothers, she was meant to get it for her twentieth birthday but I fell ill and couldn't give it to her. Could you please do so for me?" He asked handing him the bow.

"Of course. May I ask your name so I can tell her?"

"My name is Lensa." He bowed and ran off in the other direction.

"How odd." Leliana said.

Alistair put the bow next to where he sat, ready to give it to Lynara, if-when she came out of her ill state.

Time had passed and Alistair was growing anxious. There was suddenly a large crashing noise from inside the tent. Alistair and Leliana rushed in to see what had happened. Alistair was shocked to see what he did.

Lynara was sat up on the table with the Keeper's neck in her hands. Lynara's hair was draped over her face and she was very pale.

"Lynara!" Alistair yelled. Lynara let go of the Keeper and turned to face Alistair. The Keeper collapsed to the floor gasping for air and rubbing her neck. Alistair could see Lynara's eyes through her hair and terror shot him. Her eyes were not the green he had fallen in love with but were black as the night sky.

"What in Andraste's name-" but before he could finish his sentence Lynara had hopped off the table and had charged at Alistair. Alistair went flying out of the tent and landed on the ground with Lynara on top of him. Lynara reached down to her leg to get a dagger but Alistair flipped her over before she could get it out.

"Lynara what are you doing?" Alistair asked as he struggled to get her to stop.

The group had all rushed over to see what had happened. All were ready to fight apart from Zevran.

"No don't hurt her! She isn't herself! It's the arrow!"

"What are you talking about?" Alistair asked. He was now on top of Lynara with her arms crossed behind her back.

"All the way here I kept looking at the feather on the arrow. I knew I recognised it, it's an arrow that once in the blood can manipulate the person."

"And you didn't think about telling us this before!" Alistair and Lynara were now rolling on the floor trying to pin the other down.

"Well I didn't realise what it was then so, no I didn't." Zevran explained to Alistair.

"How do we stop it?" Morrigan asked.

"That's the thing...I don't know if there is a way."

Lynara had somehow gotten out of Alistair's grip and was now standing in front of him, dagger in hand.

"Lynara you have to snap out of this!" He yelled. Lynara didn't listen and ran at him ready to stab him. He quickly moved out of the way and Lynara ran past him. She span around ready to charge again.

"Lynara please, you have to remember. We are your friends. We are trying to kill the archdemon not each other. Please Lynara." Alistair thought his words had gotten through to her when she suddenly froze, but she was soon charging again.

"Leliana throw me the bow!" He yelled at her. Leliana threw the bow as hard as she could and Alistair grabbed it in mid-air.

"Look! This is your mothers bow! Remember Lynara. This isn't you!" Lynara stopped for a moment and her hand flew up to her head. Lynara fell to the floor on her knees clutching her head.

"Alistair- stop me! Before- before I..." Lynara was in pain and Alistair couldn't stand it.

"Zevran grab her hands and hold them behind her back." He ordered. Zevran did so and just in time as Lynara snapped back into her controlled self.

_Please let this work _Alistair thought to himself. He ran up to Lynara and held her head in his hands, making her look into his eyes. At first Alistair was scared as her eyes were dark, but he could still see the flicker of green in her eyes. Alistair moved his face closer to hers and kissed her on the lips. There was a silence that swept over the group as they realised what Alistair had just done but they noticed a difference in Lynara. Her posture was no longer aggressive but back to her normal relaxed posture.

Alistair pulled back and looked at Lynara. Her eyes were mostly green now but there was still darkness in them.

"Alistair...?" Lynara asked.

Zevran let go of her arms and walked back over to where he was stood before. Lynara fell into Alistair's arms and he held her as tears fell from her eyes.

"I'm so sorry. I knew it was you but I couldn't stop myself."

Alistair soothed her by brushing her hair with his hand.

"It's ok, no harm done see?" He pointed to himself to prove there was nothing wrong with him.

"Do you know if it's gone?"

"I...I don't know. I can still feel it inside me."

There was a hushed silence over everyone.

"We need to find a way to stop it from happening again." Alistair's face was now determined.

Zevran stepped forward. "What about the crows? They might know how to stop this." He suggested.

"But Zevran..." Lynara started. She knew that if the crows found him he would be in serious danger and could possibly die.

"There is another way." A voice stated from behind them. The Keeper came out of the tent holding her neck which was now bruised.

"Keeper I am so sorry." Lynara exclaimed.

"It is alright Lethallin. I know you were not yourself. I know of a way to end this; a ritual used years ago by our ancestors. We will however need three people who know spells. I know this type so that is one but we need two more."

Wynne and Morrigan stepped forward.

"We know magic." Stated Wynne matter of factly.

"Very good. Now, Lynara you must know. This ritual could kill you but it could also heal you." The Keeper's eyes were filled with worry as she informed Lynara about the consequences.

"I have already done a ritual that could kill me and have lived, so I am willing to do this before I kill anyone I love." She fought the feeling to look over at Alistair.

"Very good. We will start immediately." Everyone ran off to prepare and Lynara was left with the Keeper.

"I am so sorry Keeper I did not mean to hurt you."

"It is alright child I am fine. This body has seen much worse. You are forgiven. Now go, you will need to start soon."

"Thank you Keeper may the Creator watch over you." Lynara bowed her head and ran off after her friends.

**Ok So I'm going to leave it there. Next chapter will be up soon.**


	8. Chapter 8

**So today I received a really nice review from Zeeji and I just wanted to say thank you. It is people like you who leave comments like that, that make me want to continue to write. So I dedicate this chapter to Zeeji. Once again, thank you.**

Alistair had been leaning against one of the great trees thinking about what to say to Lynara. He knew that she had to go through with this ritual to clear her blood, but what worried him was how were they going to do it? At first he thought blood magic but then thought twice, wondering if the Dalish even had blood magic when this ritual was first done.

Alistair was trying to think but all he could hear was a continuous thudding noise coming from the trees to the left of him. His curiosity got the better of him and he decided to take a look. The thudding was growing louder and louder until he finally found where it was coming from. In front of Alistair in a small clearing was Lynara, holding her mother's bow in her hands. The bow was pointed at the floor when Alistair first saw her but in one swift move, the bow was level to targets in the distance with an arrow ready in place to be fired. Just as quickly as the bow had moved, the arrow was flying through the air and landed straight in the middle of the target with a loud thud.

Alistair pulled away from the target to see how well the bow fitted Lynara. The bow looked as if it had been specially made for her as it was the right shape and height for Lynara's small body. Alistair hadn't realised until that moment that Lynara had something on her face. Alistair tried to figure out what it was but his attention was drawn back to the target as Lynara fired another bow and it split her previous one in half. Alistair then realised what it was on Lynara's face, it was a blindfold.

"By the Maker." He said under his breath. As if Alistair was stood right next to Lynara she giggled and spun around.

"Thanks." She said with her blindfold still on.

"How did you know I was here, I was so quiet." Alistair asked moving closer to Lynara.

"These ears do more than give our race away. We can hear pretty well with them too." Lynara spun back around and fired another arrow at the target, once again the arrow split in half as it hit the target.

Alistair had moved behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"So why are you out here and not getting ready for this ritual?" Alistair asked as he kissed her neck.

"If you're not careful an arrow will go through your foot, you're distracting me." She giggled.

"You haven't answered my question." He stated continuing to kiss her neck. Lynara spun around to face Alistair and lifted one side of her blindfold to see his worried face looking down at her.

"You need to stop looking so worried. I'm just trying to calm myself down a bit. Whenever I used to get nervous or scared when I was younger, I would come here and try to improve my archery."

"You're nervous? Well that's not a good sign." He teased at her.

"Very funny. It just helps me to clear my head that's all. I was wondering if you would do something for me."

"Anything." He said back to her, love filling his voice.

"When this ritual is taking place, can you please...never mind" She said with a blush.

"Lynara you can ask. I know you're a proud person but you can ask me." He gave her a gentle smile to show that he would do anything for her.

"Ok. I was wondering if...you could...hold my hand- but not in a babyish way, but a comforting way." She began to blush as she thought she sounded stupid asking this.

"Of course I will. I will be there every step of the way." He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. "Now come on, we have to get you ready." He said as he lead the way back to where the Keeper was ready to begin.

Lynara could hear her heart in her ears as she lay down on a wooden table with Alistair's hand in hers. Wynne, Morrigan and the Keeper were in a triangle around Lynara and were linked together by a very thin thread of magic aura. The Keeper said some words in what Lynara could only assume were Dalish words, the meaning long gone from their clans now. Once the Keeper had finished speaking these words, she held up a knife and placed it in her right hand. With her left she signalled for Wynne and Morrigan to join her. All three of them placed their left hand over the knife and recited some words in another tongue. There was a faint glow under their hands and once they moved away, Lynara noticed that the knife was glowing.

"Lynara, are you willing to go through with this ritual?" The Keeper asked.

Lynara was scared to open her mouth so nodded in response to the question. The Keeper nodded back and lifted the knife above her head.

"In the name of the Creator, we pray that you heal one of your children. Bless this knife with your wisdom to heal one of your bravest children, who is also a Grey Warden, sworn to protect all." As the Keeper spoke these words, the glowing knife grew in brightness and a small flash burst from it.

"We shall now proceed with the ritual. Alistair, I know how you feel about Lynara but I must ask that no matter what, you will not get involved in this ritual." Alistair nodded and squeezed Lynara's hand to comfort her.

The Keeper took Lynara's right arm and in the crease of her arm, slid the blade across her arm, drawing blood. Lynara winced as a reaction to the pain and squeezed Alistair's hand. The Keeper moved to Alistair's side and did the same again on her left arm. The Keeper did the same on each of Lynara's legs and the final one on her chest, but not as deep as the others, this was only a faint line.

"Alistair, I am afraid I am going to have to ask you to move away from Lynara for this next part, your presence could affect this." Alistair was at first reluctant but did as the Keeper asked. Before he moved back he kissed Lynara's hand and moved to where the rest of the team were stood.

The Keeper raised her voice. "Oh mighty Creator, this Dalish child has had your wisdom thrown upon her but it is not enough to heal her. We pray that you cleanse this child's body, to clear her blood of a controlling chemical but nothing else. We beg of you, save your protector." Nothing happened for a moment and Alistair became increasingly worried as he looked over at Lynara, pain scaring her face, who was bleeding heavily on the wooden table.

Suddenly Lynara's breath caught as if she had just been stabbed. Her body curved up towards the sky and then collapsed against the wood. Out of each cut came a dark substance which lifted up into the air above Lynara as if it were about to form a cloud. The Keeper had held up a vile towards the dark liquid and it moved towards the vile becoming trapped inside it. This happened for a few more seconds before the Keeper spoke to Wynne.

"Wynne, you must now heal the wounds to prevent anything else leaving or entering the body." Wynne did so and within seconds the wounds were healing themselves, leaving nothing behind apart from a faint red line at each point.

"Thank you Creator, from all of your children. You have not only saved the life of one, but the life of many." The Keeper bowed her head towards the sky and through the vile into the fire where it burst into a small flame.

"The ritual is finished. It appears to have worked but to be sure we must wait for Lynara to awaken. I will ask one of our guards to carry her to a tent." The Keeper then signalled for someone to take Lynara to a nearby tent. Alistair followed them and stayed with Lynara, waiting for her to awaken.

Alistair had been sat next to Lynara for only a few minutes when she snapped forwards, gasping for air as if she had been submerged in water for too long.

"Lynara, calm down it's alright. You're safe." Alistair held Lynara in his arms to sooth her.

"She's beautiful." Lynara said.

"Who is?"

"The Creator. I met her."

Alistair somehow believed her even though it sounded crazy, but he had been around magic before he was a Grey Warden and knew that anything was possible.

Lynara was suddenly crying in Alistair's arms.

"Hey hey. What's wrong?" He asked her, pulling away slightly to see her face.

"I saw them again. I never thought I would but I did." Through her tears there was a smile.

"Who?" Alistair asked again.

Lynara opened her hand which she only realised now was closed. Inside her hand was a silver locket, with a large blue gem in the middle. Inside the locket was a picture she hadn't seen before.

"My parents."

**Alright so in my mind I see the creator as a woman, like Andraste. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. A new one will be up soon. Thanks again.**


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